


born to be yours

by Dawn_Blossom



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 13:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16556255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom
Summary: Chrom is an anomaly. There is no name on his wrist. There’s not even a single mark.





	born to be yours

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, hello, I'm back with more mushy romantic nonsense.
> 
> You know, for someone who claims not to believe in soulmates, I sure do love soulmate aus...
> 
> The title comes from [Born to Be Yours](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOFvJVroAJE) by Kygo & Imagine Dragons. I heard the song on the radio and the line "I never knew anybody 'til I knew you" hit me so hard that I almost drowned in Grima feelings right there in the car.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy the fic!

Chrom has long known that his destiny is to be lonely.

In a world where everyone has a soulmate (at least one; some people even have multiple), where nobody has to go through life alone, where all anyone has to do is look at their wrist to see the names of their fated companions… Chrom is an anomaly. There is no name on his wrist. There’s not even a single mark.

His father told him it was because he had no soulmate. He said that it made Chrom special, and that it was a great asset for a prince. He could go into battle without ever fearing for the safety of his other half. He would never be pressured to settle down and marry. He could devote his entire being to his country, never having to share his soul with another person.

Chrom used to believe his father, but…

Regarding the first point, Chrom is not satisfied with a battlefield advantage. He has never wanted to be a warlord, and after seeing the consequences of his father’s war with Plegia, he’s even more sure that peace is the correct path. Having a soulmate could not possibly be a hardship to that goal. How can you lose yourself to the passion of battle when you know you’re putting someone else at risk?

The second point is moot. The moment he had to take up the title of Exalt, he became burdened with the task of producing an heir. That his soulmate could not be found was unfortunate to his Council, but ultimately they set him up with the daughter of a village chieftain to the west. It was a strong political move to assure their alliance, but it was terrible for the woman, who had just suffered the loss of her soulmate in battle. She has every material comfort in the world at her fingertips now, but luxury does little to heal a wounded heart. Chrom knows that too well. She did not want to marry him, and he did not want to marry her, and the only thing they have in common is their love for their child, Lucina.

The third point is… Well, Chrom cannot say it is without merit. Ylisse _should_ come before everything else. It’s just that he thinks that, surely, he does not need to be alone to lead his country. Surely if he had a soulmate, they would work together and be able to do even better things for the people.

Indeed, Chrom already knows that he does his best work when he is not alone. Robin does perfect work as his tactician, but he goes so much farther than what his duties mandate. He’s the best friend that Chrom has ever had. He would do anything for Robin, and he knows (fears, sometimes) that Robin would do the same for him.

Sometimes, when he’s alone, Chrom traces the letters of Robin’s name into the clear, smooth skin of his wrist. If he closes his eyes, he can pretend that they’re really there.

But it isn’t fair to Robin, who must certainly have a soulmate of his own. He keeps both of his wrists covered, even while bathing, and he has never offered any information about his soulmate to Chrom. But Chrom has told Robin everything about his own lack of soulmate. Robin is good at comforting him (far better than his father ever was), and sometimes, Chrom finds himself believing that he really doesn’t need a soulmate at all. Even if Robin is bound to another, as long as Chrom has his friendship, he knows he can be happy.

It’s no coincidence, then, that Chrom has _not_ been very happy lately. They’ve both been busy after returning from the war, but they used to at least make time to grab a meal together every day. But ever since Chrom’s wedding, he’s lucky if he catches Robin in the halls once a week. He doesn’t know what Robin’s doing, and his own royal duties keep him from having the time to physically corner his best friend like he’d like to. It feels like they’re growing distant, and the ache in Chrom’s chest is almost unbearable, but he doesn’t know what to do to fix it. It’s the sort of problem he would normally come to Robin about.

Then one day, as though summoned by the cries of Chrom’s heart, Robin appears at the door to Chrom’s room. His face is shrouded by the hood of his coat, and he’s shaking. It’s all Chrom can do to keep himself from wrapping him in a hug the second he sees him, but it would all be over for him if he did that. His love for Robin is too strong; he could not have Robin against his chest and ever be content to say nothing of his feelings, soulmates be damned.

So instead, he takes Robin’s hand.

“Come in,” he says gently. “What’s troubling you?”

Robin takes a couple of staggering steps inside. As soon as Chrom closes the door behind them, he stops.

“You shouldn’t have let me in,” he says. His voice is rough, as though he has just finished screaming.

“You’re always welcome here,” Chrom says, confused. “Why would I want to keep you out?”

Robin chuckles, but it is by no means a happy sound.

“Because I’m your enemy…” he says.

Slowly, his hood falls back, revealing his feathery white hair and scarlet eyes.

Wait… Scarlet eyes?

“What’s going on?” Chrom asks. “Robin, are you okay?” 

Instinctively, he moves forward. Robin’s eyes widen at his approach, but his brilliant mind forms a plan in an instant, and Chrom suddenly finds himself pinned by Robin’s arms against the wall.

“You don’t seem to understand the position you’re in,” Robin says. “I am going to kill you. I have to…”

“You don’t have to do anything!” Chrom exclaims. “Robin, just tell me what’s happening. Have you been cursed? Possessed? Blackmailed? Please, we can overcome any obstacle together. I won’t let you come to harm.”

“Shut. Up.” Robin growls. He closes his eyes in pain. “This is destiny.”

His grip on Chrom’s shoulders tightens, his fingernails digging into the bare skin of Chrom’s right arm. He isn’t wearing gloves for once. On his hand is a glowing purple mark… The Eyes of Grima, if Chrom isn’t mistaken. Is this some sort of attack by Plegia?

But before Chrom can speak again, his eyes trail farther down, catching upon Robin’s wrist…

Even upside down, Chrom can read those letters.

Robin’s eyes fly open when Chrom clasps his hands around his wrist.

“Robin… Is this why…?” Chrom asks. Many fiends will stoop to trying to use soulmates against each other. Chrom doesn’t know how his name can be on Robin’s wrist, but it doesn’t matter at the moment. All Chrom knows now is that he can’t die like this. Not with everything unresolved.

“Damn it. I was too much of a hurry,” Robin hisses. “Although… Heh, I’m actually happy that you know. Do you know how painful it was to stay by your side all these years, knowing that I was supposed to be with you but that you had no reason at all to be with me? I thought that, because you have no soulmate, I could still have part of you. But then you went and got married! To a stranger! I thought I was going to be sick! And I wondered how fate could be so cruel to one person! What had I ever done to deserve this kind of agony? And then, you know what? I _found out._ I’m not just some poor vagrant from Plegia. I am the fell dragon, Grima!”

“Th-That’s not possible!” Chrom says. “The fell dragon was sealed away…”

“I know far more about reincarnation than you,” Robin says. “And though I need not prove my power to a lowly human, I will privilege you with a display.”

A faint purple glow lights Robin’s fingertips. Lines begin to stretch below his eyes, ultimately turning into two pairs of dragonlike eyes. Six black wings sprout from his back, and his fingernails harden into claws. It looks nothing like a manakete transformation, and yet the raw power of it does feel like a dragon’s power.

But if Chrom is really seeing what he thinks he is, and Robin isn’t lying… Then, what, he’s spent the past several years cozying up to the would-be destroyer of the world? That can’t be right. Robin has ideals like Chrom’s. Both of them desire to change the world. But not to destroy it…

And yet Chrom cannot deny the fell power that has been unleashed in front of him. If this is not a mistake, then… It must be the legends that are wrong. Because Chrom cannot be fated to fight the fell dragon when Robin is the one claiming that title.

“Okay, so you’re Grima,” Chrom concedes. “What does that change? Why does it have to change anything at all? We are not enemies.”

Robin laughs.

“What does it change? It puts my whole life in perspective,” he says. “Why would I be bound to a child of Naga? Why would I be bound to love someone who will not love me? Because I am the breath of ruin and the wings of despair, of course! Misery is all I can bring. And if that is fate’s design, then it can only be you or me in this world. My spirit will not slumber again so soon… So you must die.”

The words present a pressing issue… But Chrom can really only focus on one part of that statement.

“But I do love you…” He says. “I… I think I have from the moment I saw you, I just… I thought you had a soulmate. I mean one that wasn’t me… But you, you really… Do you love me?”

Robin’s expression, already twisted with pain, only darkens further.

“It is so easy for you to say that now that you have seen your name like a mark of possession on my skin” he growls. “Humans are all alike. Wretched creatures who only care for what they claim to own.”

Despite Robin’s harsh words and previous threats to kill Chrom, he does not make a move after he falls silent. Though his dragonlike features do give him the appearance of a deity, his skin is sweaty, his breathing is labored, and all six of his eyes express an entirely human desperation.

“That’s not how I feel. You know that, don’t you?” Chrom wants to soothe Robin's pain, but he just doesn’t know what to do.

“Perhaps it hasn’t yet occurred to you,” Robin says. “But it doesn’t matter what you believe. I am bound to you, and you are not bound to me. I cannot accept this position.”

“Who says I’m not bound to you?” Chrom exclaims in frustration. “Do you think your name means nothing to me because it isn’t magically etched beneath my skin? We’ve fought a war together, shared our sorrows and triumphs, become closer than friends… Does all of that mean nothing to you? Because it’s everything to me. I am as bound to you as if there were a physical tether between us… Not because you _own_ my soul, but because I _trust_ you with it…”

“And if you’ve made a mistake?” Grima challenges.

“I haven’t,” Chrom says confidently. Even if he dies here today, his regrets would not lie in his trust of Robin. His only regret would be that he’s failed everyone… _starting_ with Robin.

“You fool…” Robin mutters.

And then, all of a sudden, Chrom is being kissed. It is rough and forceful, a kiss of passion that Chrom is happy to accept. Robin’s teeth have become sharper with his transformation, and they dig in painfully when he bites Chrom’s lip. But this, too, is more than acceptable to Chrom. He has longed for Robin to touch him in this way for so long that he cannot pinpoint when the feeling began. 

“I love you,” he repeats when Robin frees his lips. 

“I am the fell dragon, Grima,” Robin states again. His tone contains neither pride nor anguish. He simply sounds tired.

“I know,” Chrom says gently. Perhaps he should not be so accepting. Perhaps he should have grabbed the Falchion and fought. Perhaps that is what his father would have wanted him to do. Perhaps it is even what Naga herself would want him to do.

But Chrom has already made his choice. His loyalty lies with Robin.

“I will say again that you are a fool,” Robin mutters. “But… You are true to your beliefs. You always speak the truth as you know it. That is why… against reason, I… love you.”

“Robin…” Chrom murmurs. Slowly, he places a hand against Robin’s cheek, careful not to disturb any of his eyes. Some would find Robin’s appearance grotesque, but Chrom cannot keep himself from caressing the man in front of him. This is still Robin, and Chrom cannot reject any part of him. “I cannot bear to be apart from you.”

Robin lets out a breath. With speed that might be superhuman, he buries himself into Chrom’s chest and wraps his arms tightly around Chrom’s body as if to shackle them together.

“You believe your own words,” he says quietly. “But what do you think you can do… _Your Grace?_ ”

Chrom has never liked hearing those words applied to him, and the way Robin twists the address makes his heart hurt all the more. But with his title comes power, and so Chrom does not just _think_ that he can do something. He _knows_ what he wants.

“I’ll marry you,” he says. “Marriages can be annulled if one of the partners finds their soulmate…”

“So simple, is it?” Robin mutters without looking up. “You do not have my name on you. I could be lying about yours being real. Indeed… How do you know that I am not?”

It boils down to faith. Faith in Robin, and faith in himself. He has Robin right here in his arms, and Chrom just… knows.

“Magic isn’t infallible,” he says. “I do not need your name written on my skin to know that it is written in my heart. Whether you call yourself Robin or Grima, and whether you live as a human or a dragon or some combination, we will always be two halves of a greater whole.”

Slowly, Robin raises his head. Red eyes bore into blue ones, and there are no filters to obscure the windows to their souls.

“You… You are…” Robin breathes. “Unique among all beings.”

Chrom smiles.

“And so are you,” he says.

A sudden tingling of electricity in his hand has Chrom raising his arm. Robin’s embrace gives way as together they stare at the black lines that have suddenly spiraled out across Chrom’s wrist.

“Wha—” Chrom gasps. He has only ever seen this name in this spot in his dreams.

Robin closes his eyes.

“It seems that my soul has finally decided who it is,” he says. “I am both the fell dragon and the Shepherds’ tactician. But more important than any of that… I am with you. What you see in me must be the truth of my being.”

It begins to make sense. All this time, the empty spot on his skin was not occupied by nothingness. It was a signature line awaiting an authorization.

“I am your soulmate, and you are mine,” Chrom says in wondrous joy.

And that is the truth, pure and simple.


End file.
